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Chaotic scenes at suspected scam compounds across Cambodia unfolded this week as authorities pressed on with raids under a high-profile drive to shut down the billion-dollar industry.
But as reports and videos emerge of groups fleeing the sweeps, and with few public prosecutions of linked officials or syndicate bosses, the effectiveness of the campaign is being questioned, an anti-human trafficking specialist said.
Videos circulating online this month showed large groups running from raids on suspected scam centers in Sihanoukville, Poipet and Pailin. Gunfire, which authorities described as warning shots, could be heard in many of the videos as police and bystanders chased scattering individuals through the streets. Some were later detained, according to authorities.
Dy The Hoya, head of anti-human trafficking and migration at rights group Central, said the scenes exposed shortcomings in the crackdown and pointed to poor preparation by law enforcement.
“If the authorities decide to crack down on a building, they must be thoroughly prepared, and no one should be allowed to escape,” he said.
He also warned that those who fled could regroup into smaller operations and resume scam activities elsewhere.
The government acknowledged that some people fled during the raids, but denied the incidents reflected negligence by authorities.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak told CamboJA News that fleeing was common among suspects fearing arrest or detention. He said the large numbers of people inside some compounds made it difficult for police to maintain control when crowds tried to rush out.
“Sometimes our forces fired warning shots into the air to keep them in one place and prevent them from moving elsewhere,” he said.
The enforcement campaign, which intensified earlier this year amid mounting pressure on Phnom Penh to curb a regional industry the United Nations says is worth tens of billions of dollars and relies on forced or coerced labor from hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, has left thousands stranded with limited shelter or support.
Rights and anti-trafficking groups, some of which have described the aftermath as a humanitarian crisis, warned that many could be recruited or trafficked again into new scam compounds or centers that remain operational.
Sokhak said the government had the “political will” to eliminate online scam operations and hold those responsible accountable under the law.
The government said last month it had shut down more than 250 online scam locations and closed 91 casinos between July 2025 and mid-April this year. It said more than 240,000 foreign nationals, including people from China, Pakistan and Indonesia, had voluntarily left Cambodia during the same period, while more than 13,000 others were deported.
But Hoya opined many of those arrested were not the “real masterminds” behind the industry. He argued that the government’s crackdown strategy had failed to effectively dismantle networks, noting that associates of alleged scam syndicates sanctioned by the United States, Britain and other Asian countries had yet to be arrested or investigated.
Phnom Penh says it has arrested more than 700 alleged “ringleaders” this year and begun prosecuting operators under a new anti-scam law passed in April.
While two leading figures of alleged scam and money laundering groups have been extradited to China this year, Cambodian senators including Ly Yong Phat and Kok An, both sanctioned by the United States over alleged involvement in scam operations, have not faced public scrutiny in Cambodia.
A Senate spokesperson said shortly after Kok An and 28 alleged associates and companies were blacklisted in April that he had “immunity.” Both Kok An and Ly Yong Phat have denied involvement in scams.
“The government has to arrest all the ringleaders,” Hoya said. Authorities also needed to identify the “real ringleaders” behind online scam compounds and screen all detainees for signs of human trafficking, he added.
Mark Taylor, an international anti-trafficking consultant and former chief of party for the Cambodia Counter-Trafficking in Persons Project, said authorities had largely treated scam compounds as hubs of illegal immigration instead of making clear efforts to identify potential trafficking victims. That approach, he said, enables ringleaders to evade arrest and relocate operations.
“A good way of analyzing the scam industry is to see human trafficking as the essential ‘fuel’ for this industry. Without trafficked labor, the scam centers cannot function,” he said.
Sokhak acknowledged some suspects who fled could regroup into smaller operations, but said authorities were carrying out inspections at apartments, condominiums, villas and other residential and commercial buildings nationwide. Police patrols were also monitoring the movement of foreigners suspected of involvement in scam activities, he said.
Prime Minister Hun Manet previously pledged to eliminate online scam operations by the end of April, though officials later dismissed the deadline as a “rumor” and said the crackdown would continue indefinitely.
The campaign would fail unless leading operators were prosecuted, Hoya said, warning the fallout could have long-term consequences for Cambodia.
